LAS VEGAS — Amid the 51 victories and two draws in 54 fights and the world championships in three weight classes and the superstar string of vanquished victims, it’s easy to forget that Canelo Alvarez is just 28 years old.
Alvarez is one of the biggest attractions in boxing, if not the biggest, and he’s drawn overflow crowds since he was a fresh-faced teenager.
He’ll face Daniel Jacobs on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in a middleweight unification bout for the IBF-WBA-WBC and lineal titles in a bout streamed on DAZN.
If he wins, there’s a good chance he’ll fight bitter rival Gennady Golovkin in September for a third time. If he loses, he’ll see Jacobs again because there is a rematch clause in their contract.
Either way, he’ll be matched tough.
And he’s interested in not only middleweight and super middleweight, where he holds a belt after destroying a nice guy who was a no-hoper named Rocky Fielding, but promoter Oscar De La Hoya said he’ll even consider light heavyweight.
“There’s a ton of challenges left for him,” De La Hoya said of Alvarez on Tuesday. “Whether it’s [unified super middleweight champion Jarret] Hurd; whether it’s the Charlo brothers [Jermell and Jermall]; whether it’s moving up to 175 to challenge [Sergey] Kovalev; there are plenty of great challenges for him. When you’re the champion and the most popular draw in boxing like Canelo is, you’re going to have challenges forever.”
True.
But the guy is 28 years old.
He doesn’t get nearly enough credit for what he’s done to this point in his career. He’s 51-1-2 and has faced a who’s who of the greatest boxers of his era. He’s had two brilliant battles with Golovkin, who seems a lock for the International Boxing Hall of Fame on the first day he’s eligible.
His only loss came as a 23-year-old in 2013, when he wasn’t ready but still willingly took on the challenge of the legendary Floyd Mayweather Jr.
He’s beaten tough guys and boxers. He’s beaten southpaws and orthodox fighters. He’s beaten every style imaginable and he’s done it all with humility and grace.
He doesn’t boast and he doesn’t get angry and he lets his fighting do the talking. When the subject of the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world was brought up on Tuesday, Alvarez demurred.
He has a case — a strong case — as the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He has as many knockouts, for instance, as WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford has fights.
But Alvarez wouldn’t take the bait when asked about it.
“That’s for you guys to decide,” he said, nodding at the media.
When he steps into the ring on Saturday to face Jacobs, he’ll be only 28 years, nine months and 17 days old.
Bernard Hopkins, the former middleweight and light heavyweight champion who is now one of his promoters, won a world title fight at 49 years, three months and five days old.
Alvarez said he loves boxing and has no intention of quitting any time soon. If he fights until the age Hopkins was when he won his last championship fight, it will be in 2040.
Boxing isn’t yet a chore for him. He has good habits. Though he failed a drug test last year that gave him a six-month suspension, there is evidence that it was because of eating tainted meat.
But he’s not a partier. He doesn’t hang out. And, despite his fan-friendly style, he hasn’t gotten hit flush a lot.
His body hasn’t taken a lot of abuse, and there haven’t been any signs, not even subtle ones, that he’s slowing down.
In a lot of ways, he is similar to De La Hoya. Both became the biggest draws of their eras, and both had engaging styles and were willing (and did) fight anyone who was anyone.
But De La Hoya loved to party and he began to tire from boxing. He was burning the candle at both ends and he didn’t have near the longevity that Alvarez appears destined for.
“I started getting sick of it as I got around 35, but it was different for me because I was an old 35,” De La Hoya said. “Canelo’s 28 years old; a young 28. Because he hasn’t put his body through the wringer, like I did, he has a lot of time left. He’s still hungry. He’s still motivated. He still loves what he does. He’s still got a lot left to give and a long time left in this sport.”
He’s in the second fight of a contract with DAZN that will pay him $365 million over its life, and De La Hoya said it has clauses that could make the final payout even greater.
Given how much he’s made already, along with the value of his current DAZN contract and the likelihood of another, similar one, Alvarez could one day surpass Mayweather and become the highest-earning athlete in history.
Even that, though, fails to get a rise out of him.
“I’m not focused on my contract,” he said. “I’m happy with it, of course. I worked hard for it. The sun will shine on everybody at some point in their careers, depending upon what they put into it. I put in the hard work. I’m not focused on the contract. I’m happy about it, but I’m just going to continue to fight the best fighters in the world.”
He’s a guy who could finish with over 70 wins, and he has a chance to surpass the legendary Julio César Chávez as the greatest fighter ever from Mexico. Chavez is generally ranked around 20th or 25th among the best fighters who ever lived, and it’s not inconceivable that Alvarez will end his career right alongside him.
He’s not flashy. He’s not a trash talker. He’s not a huge self promoter.
The only place where he truly stands out is the place where it counts: In the ring under the lights, against the best men in the world.
He’s only 28, and it’s no joke to say that, despite all he’s accomplished, the best is yet to come.
More from Yahoo Sports:
